“The commissioners council held on Monday a meeting with experts in the commission and we think that the recount needs seven days,” Iyad al-Kenani told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.“The recount process will include the general and special voting of all ballots cast in Baghdad,” he added.

A panel had ordered a recount of ballots cast in Baghdad in Iraq’s March 7 election.Electoral commissioner Hamdiya al-Husseini said the manual recount would begin immediately but she was not sure how long it would take.

The al-Iraqiya list of a former prime minister, Iyad Allawi, came first with 91 seats, according to preliminary results.

Maliki’s State of Law won 89 seats while the Iraqi National Alliance got around 70